In Week 9 of Term 2, the Literacy Project was pitched to the curriculum committee. The purpose of this presentation was to inform the HODs on what the project is about and what our plan is going forward. I wanted to make sure that the vision was clear to them and that our steps going forward, are steps that need to be taken together as a team. Their support, understanding and buy in is a crucial part of the Literacy Project journey - as Literacy is a school wide priority across all subject areas. I wrote a reflection piece about the presentation and shared my thoughts on how it went (Alby's Blog Entry: 04/07/22).
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Literacy Project 2022 Presentation |
Tell your story: Kaiako Literacy Action Plan
Since the presentation there has been positive progress and I feel that the project is finally gaining some traction. Following the presentation the HODs were asked to complete the Kaiako Literacy Action Plan with their departments. The Kaiako Literacy Action Plan is a document from the Ministry of Education, where kaiako are able to reflect on their current literacy practices (reviewing on what they currently do, what is working well etc), reflecting on what the literacy opportunities the department wants to explore and what are the next steps in achieving those goals. The Kaiako Literacy Action Plan is an opportunity for teachers to really look at what they are doing with literacy, to see what is working well and to find the gaps - or as I like to refer to, an area of opportunity. The departments had three weeks to work through the document. The response was positive with all subject areas completing the plan.
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Click on the image to access the Kaiako Literacy Action Plan |
The ultimate goal with the Kaiako Literacy Action Plan is to reflect on what you are currently doing with literacy, find opportunities to grow and explore literacy in your classroom as kaiako and then map out what your next steps are. I am excited that all the subject areas and their HODs are on board and that they have started to journey with us in the Literacy project. As I have mentioned before, the heart of the literacy project is the student and doing all that we can to support their literacy. In order for this to happen, it is important that kaiako understand that they drive the initiative. The Kaiako Literacy Action Plan allows kaiako to reflect, dream and see how they want to drive and lead literacy in their classroom.
Understanding your story: Literacy Project analyzing the Kaiako Literacy Action Plan
The Literacy Project team which includes myself, Dr Jannie and Mr. Milford (with the support from Julie Luxton - Evaluation Associates) have met to plan out the next phase of the literacy project. The information from our colleagues is rich and compelling and we know that need to study it and try our best to interpret and more importantly, respect and understand, their story. In this new phase, we have taken all of the plans from each department and divided them amongst Dr Jannie, Mr. Milford and myself - from here we have started to analyze the responses from each learning area. The four key areas that we have started to analyze are:
1) Current Literacy Practice - what are you already doing?
2) Opportunities - what is the one opportunity that you want to implement that will have the biggest impact?
3) Next Steps - what are the next steps that you want to take?
4) Support - how can the Literacy Project team support you?
We have met twice to discuss the responses and share our analysis with the project team. There is a common theme coming through the responses from the different departments which are:
- Understanding the data - across the learning areas, there is a mutual request to understand the Asttle and PAT Data (which are our most commonly used tests that we use to give us our literacy data).
- Consistent literacy strategies across the school - learning areas want to share and use literacy strategies that can be easily transferred into different subjects.
There are of course some specific goals that have come through the plans. Our plan from here is to finalize our analysis and then speak with each department to share our findings. We want to share our findings with the department ultimately to make sure that we are on the same page as them. The plan from here is to then work WITH the departments in helping them in our literacy journey. Asking them what are the steps they want us to take with them that they feel will have the biggest impact.
I know that how we approach each department is important. The goal is to support, work and journey WITH each group. To respect their story and to help them write the next part of their story in this literacy journey. It has been a daunting and exciting experience so far and I am happy that I have reflected and documented each part of the journey as I am learning a lot about myself. More so, I am learning about how important literacy is to everyone - especially our young people. In a Pandemic era, reading and writing at school has taken a hit and we are now presented with students who sit on all areas of the literacy spectrum. I look forward to seeing how this project can speak to and support our learners in their literacy journey.
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